Take a Bow
by The Almighty Ro
Summary: You put on quite a show, really had me going; but now it's time to go, curtain's finally closing. That was quite a show, very entertaining--but it's over now...


Disclaimer: I do not own, claim to own, or pretend to own the characters involved in this work of fiction. And despite how I will be portraying them, I still wish I did.

Please Note: That I am not actually procrastinating; while I am deviating from ICiW for the moment, this fic actually existed before it. So yeah, take that.

Also Note: That I do not actually view the characters involved in this fic in this way. Except for maybe Karen. I don't like her much, as you can tell.

Enjoy, su!

**Take a Bow**

_It had been the sound of clapping that had inevitably let him know he had screwed up. The tears in her eyes as he turned to find its source merely affirmed that fact, and it left the worst taste in his mouth. She held up her hand when he opened his mouth to apologize and explain._

"_There's no need," she told him, and he could tell she was struggling to keep the tears from falling. "You're not sorry anyways."_

He'd been standing out there for hours in the cold, she knew. At first he had tried calling her name repeatedly, in the hopes that she would open up and let him in, but the only response he'd gotten was having his things thrown out the window into the snow. They were gathered up quickly before anything was damaged, but he refused to leave until she at least opened the door to talk.

They'd been at this for days and it didn't appear they were any closer to a resolution.

"Claire, please just let me in!" he called once more, still hopeful.

A flash of curtains moving; at least she was still checking on him now and then. It was something, but not much.

There had been moments over the last few days where he'd let his frustration get the better of him and squeezed out a few tears of his own. He let them come, just standing there quietly in case she decided to check on him again so that she didn't see. That was one of the last things he wanted her to see—well, that and…

"How ugly," he heard her say and looked up to see her hanging out the window of the recently added second story of her home. Crap, she'd seen him crying. "You do realize how dumb you look standing there, right?"

The look she gave him was a blank mask, which hurt more then the heavy venom underlying her sarcastic words. He smiled weakly up at her and pretended there weren't any droplets of water running down his cold cheeks.

"I'm sorry," he tried again.

She huffed at him. "No you're not. If anything, you're sorry you got caught."

"Claire—"

"Stop it Kai. Please, just stop. Cut it out, because I can't take it right now."

And she shut the window, shutting off the light after closing the curtains.

Kai just stood there and shivered a moment before heading back to Doug's Inn. It was over.

_He'd felt so stupid when he realized that he'd been the one to break her heart this time, after promising to never do what He had done._

_But he had, and even now he could hear the mocking clapping in the back of his head as she came in to find him in someone else's embrace. "That was quite a show," she told him when she was done. "You really had me going. Wanna take a bow?"_

His clothes tumbling out the front door were what caught his attention when he finally managed to slink back. At first he'd been mildly surprised, but after remembering what had happened to Kai only the year before, it wasn't all that hard to foresee. All he could do was thank the Goddess that it was Spring instead of Winter.

"Take them and go," her voice drew him from his thoughts. The chill in her voice in her voice and eyes made him shiver. "Before I turn on the sprinklers."

"Babe, please," he tried and grabbed her by the wrist to keep her there, "I love you. You're the one, I swear."

Claire removed his hand as if removing a particularly gross bug, blue eyes clouded with indifference and annoyance. He opened his mouth to say something more, but her finger on his lips kept him in muted horror as she ended it between them. "Please," she started, "Gray don't do this now. Don't tell me you're sorry when you and I both know you're not."

And she slipped away from him the same way she had come into his life: sad, broken-hearted, and alone once more. Gray didn't know whether he should laugh or cry at the irony of it when she would be fine eventually, while he…he…

In the end, he settled on neither and slunk away with his tail between his legs.

"_You would think I would have learned by now," she said wryly after her clapping had ceased and he'd turned to face her. Neither let any emotion cross their faces while they regarded one another. Briefly he wondered how long it had taken before she just didn't care anymore. "Curtain's closing. Got any last words?"_

_He had none for the guilt he felt as she walked away._

"Trent, please just go; I'm tired and it's too hot for this."

The fact that it was Summer was not lost on the doctor as cornered her one muggy night after the incident. He would do anything to make her forgive him, to convince her to take him back. Timothy Trent wasn't like the last two buffoons she'd dated, loved, and been hurt by; he could change if given the chance.

It had been a one time thing, really!

"Claire please at least listen to me," he practically begged; she arched an eyebrow at him, a show of interest at least.

It was more than she had given the others at least, and he jumped at it.

"Well?"

Her sudden prompt froze any and all words he'd had prepared in his head. It told him that whatever he tried to say would have little to no affect and that trying would only be a waist of breath. Yes, she would listen to him, but was she really going to _hear_ him? The thought quashed whatever hope he might have had of winning her back.

Since when had Trent given up on anything he truly wanted?

But did he really want Claire like he told himself he did?

Claire sighed a few heartbeats later, realizing that he wasn't going to say anything. "It's over now Trent. As entertaining as this all was, it's time to go. Goodbye."

The way she walked away from him was probably how she had walked away from Kai and Gray before him, but with a noticeably different feel to it. He honestly didn't know if she was going to cry over him like she had the last two and wondered if it would make him feel better or worse if she did.

_This was much more violent encounter than the last three had, and faintly he wondered if it was because of who _he_ had been caught _with_._

_It sure as hell didn't help that he had hurt her like the others had, but to do it with _her_? That was just asking for trouble._

_There was no clapping this time—bitter, mocking, or sarcastic—as she hurled item after item at him, eyes red and puffy in a way that made him hurt for her. She had actually let herself believe this time that things could be different and he had betrayed her in the worst way, the same way, as all the rest. Why had he been so stupid?_

"_Congratulations!" she yelled and did her best to ignore the tears streaming down her red cheeks. She was pathetic enough as it was without them and didn't want his pity when she finally ran out of heavy objects. "You get the fucking award for Best Liar!"_

"I don't see why you're here Rick. Not when you can be with _her_."

The chicken boy winced at the sharp edge to her words, wanted to run and hide behind his mother's skirt like a child, but remained firm. He hoped that she would run out of barbed comments and let him speak his piece, but he knew how slim that chance was…Claire had had a city education, and anyone who knew her knew also that an event as monumental as her having nothing to say was unlikely.

Heck, he'd been lucky she'd even given him the time of day after dating guys like Kai, Gray, and Trent—and he'd gone and ruined his chance. They all had.

Claire's hooded eyes seemed even more piercing that day in the early Fall morning as they looked right through him accusingly. Rick knew he wouldn't be forgiven, but maybe he could convince her to give him another chance? The likelihood of that seemed just as slim as her forgiving him.

"I'm sorry," he began lamely.

She snorted at him. "Do I have to tell you the same thing I told the others?" came her wondering reply as she leaned against the door to her farmhouse. A pale hand waved him away. "Why don't you try that acceptance speech for your Best Liar award?"

Rick was silent. Then—"Claire…"

Something in her cool calm seemed to snap as the indifferent cold was replaced by righteous anger. It licked and spit at him through what had once been his favorite blue and the chicken boy felt himself take a step back.

"No, Rick. Just no," she hissed at him and a threatening step toward him as he stepped back again. "How could you—how could ALL of you—make me believe that you would faithful when you all clearly had girls you'd been interested before I got here? I have spent the last six _years_ living in heartbreak. The whole town thinks I'm some kind of home wrecker because _of course_ they're going to side with the girls who've lived here all their lives instead of the shady newcomer."

The breath that she managed to drag in was ragged at best as her shoulders shook with repressed tears. Tears she swore she wasn't going to shed, and wouldn't ever shed, again. It had hurt way too much for way too long and she was done—with everything.

Her gaze snapped up to meet his once more and he saw the resolve in them. "No more," she said so quietly he scarce heard her. Claire was determined now, and no one could change her mind now that she had made a decision. "I don't want anymore of this," she gestured between them and the town wildly, "Just don't even bother now, okay? I don't care. None of you cared enough to fight for me even after I'd slammed the door in your faces. So just…go."

And like she knew he would, Rick left; he left like the other three had, without a fight and without a word, and she sneered at his back. Pathetic, she thought. She tried not to wonder whether that was directed at the retreating form of her latest heartbreak or herself for being such a masochist.

No one was surprised when Cliff finally got up the courage to take a crack at the now very jaded Claire, though they were rather shocked when she said yes. The brunette had been as uninteresting as Gray had been handsome, or Trent intelligent, Kai charming, Rick determined…He was practically invisible in comparison to these four young men, and so many placed bets to see how long before this one would last before Claire was once again hiding her face in shame.

Except that that didn't happen.

None of their gloomy predictions about the demise of the relationship came to pass, and soon they were waiting with bated breath to see if Anne, Cliff's former crush, would be his undoing as the other young bachelorettes had been Claire's past boyfriends.

Nothing.

Eventually, after nearly three years of watching the two, a wedding date was announced and save-the-dates sent out. No one save the only six unbiased parties in town and Pastor Carter was invited; no one blamed them for this, except Duke and Manna, who had felt slighted after the years they had been putting him up after giving him a job when no one else would.

A job he wouldn't have had if not for the woman who was to be his wife.

The day of the ceremony certainly wasn't perfect by any means; it was windy, cold, and cloudy. It was raining by the time the wedding party made their way outside, running as fast as they could while Gotz carried Ellen and Zack dragged May and Stu behind him. Barley and Carter followed behind at a much slower pace, and they were rounded off by the newlyweds who were smiling and laughing quietly to themselves while they made their down Rose Square.

They were happy, both of them, after years of being alone and betrayed. And as much as the thought pained them, Claire's former suitors could only hope it stayed that way.

Claire had been wrong when she'd said they hadn't cared enough to fight for her; each one of them would have if given half the chance. But they weren't, and they'd screwed up the only one they'd been given. Kai was the first to start clapping and soon they all were. After several moments they stopped, each gazing wistfully at where the new bride had disappeared with her husband, before they all bowed and left the cemetery where they had been watching the wedding through the windows.

It was over now.

**End**

Not sure if I like how this ended, but I can't quite figure out how to fix it. This fic was inspired by the Glee version of Take a Bow, so if you squint real hard, you'll see song lyrics mixed in with the dialogue and stuff. I felt it described what might happen no matter who Claire dated in MT, so I decided to just throw them all in and see what happened. It was tough who she would end up with—if she would end up with anyone—but I made the decision in the end. It was between Rick and Cliff, and in the end Cliff became the victor (there actually almost wasn't a happy ending. Go figure). Also, if you were really wondering how serious the boys were, Kai had stayed in MT till WINTER.

Serious enough for you? I thought so.

**Reviews save lives. They also keep the author from deviating from her major projects with songfics like this one.**


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